Colombia

Upcoming Delegations:

Join veteran delegation organizer Lyn Clark Pegg and WFP cofounder Gail Phares on two side by side historic delegations to commemorate 20 years of accompaniment and advocacy in solidarity with the Colombian people. We hope to coordinate two simultaneous delegations: one focused in Bogota and one that travels outside the capital, overlapping at the end for action planning and a celebration gathering with historical and current partners.

For the last six decades, Colombia has endured a brutal armed conflict. In many cases, US involvement and military aid have exacerbated internal disputes, leading to gross human rights violations and creating one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises with almost 8 million people internally displaced and over 220,000 people killed. Witness for Peace Solidarity Collective delegates will see the effects of US policy firsthand, analyzing the effects of military aid on communities, the impact of Plan Colombia, the US-Colombia Free Trade Agreement and Labor Action Plan, and US cooperation in the post-accords period.

Learn about issues of internal displacement and armed conflict, grassroots peacebuilding efforts and the peace process, and the work of human rights defenders throughout the country.

Meet with human rights defenders, displaced Afro-Colombian and Indigenous communities, and other advocates, and return prepared to act in solidarity.

Reflect upon the impact of accompaniment, policy advocacy, and solidarity work, as we mark 20 years of on-the-ground presence and delegations.

Gain the knowledge and skills necessary to return to the United States and advocate against harmful US policies, striving for new policies that uplift human rights and support Colombian communities on the ground.

Cost: $1,200 + international airfare

Fundraising help is available. Scholarship opportunities are available.​

Join us on this historic delegation to mark two decades of work to build justice in Colombia.

Deadline:

Application & $250 deposit due May 1, 2020.

Remaining Balance due May 13, 2020.​

Price covers meals, lodging, interpreters, and transportation within Colombia, along with reading and activist tools.

Past Delegations

Capitalism, War on Drugs, and Labor Rights

May 25th-June 2nd 2019

Join us on a delegation to Colombia from May 25th – June 2nd to explore the connections between the War on Drugs, Neoliberalism, and Labor rights particularly during the implementation of the peace accords.

This delegation will travel throughout Cauca and Valle de Cauca, Colombia meeting with social leaders who are at the forefront of movements building socio-economic justice.

Both President Trump and Colombia’s newly elected President Ivan Duque favor a return to vintage drug war tactics. These include increased militarization in rural areas and policies such as aerial fumigation- spraying Round-up on coca crops- despite evidence that this pollutes water sources, kills food crops, and acts as a carcinogen. These policies fail to address the socio-economic reasons people grow coca, threaten livelihoods, and conflict with a key provision of the Peace accords signed in 2016 that supports voluntarily substitution efforts. At the same time, the US and Colombia continue to deepen their engagement with free trade policies. These policies are linked to decreased pay for workers and provide few mechanisms that support workers rights or recourse for violations.

This delegation explores the following questions:

How is the War on Drugs connected to neoliberal policies (unfettered free market, privatization of state services,etc.)?

How does the current US supported socio-economic model in Colombia threaten the implementation of the Peace Accords?

How are women, workers, indigenous peoples, Afro-Colombian’s, and small farmers building grassroots initiatives to create a more just and equitable alternatives? How can we link our efforts across borders?

Participants on this delegation will:

*Meet with a wide range of Colombians (community leaders, labor leaders, displaced persons, and human rights defenders)
*Explore the connections between women’s rights and human rights
*Learn about social organizing in Colombia
*Learn how we can link our movements for socio-economic and labor justice across borders

Cost: $1,400, a $250 non-refundable deposit, plus airfare

Application and deposit deadline: March 15th

For more information or to sign up for this delegation contact Chelsey Dyer at cgdyer@ncsu.edu